IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues

[whole diary]

[Sixty3Closure]

Worked on my trip to Cardiff yesterday and a lot easier to read than the Cross Country ones. Seat wasn't as bad as I expected either after two hours. Toilets were surprisingly small and the food trolley was very disappointing for a hungry traveller but there's a whole thread on that 

[RailCornwall]

Incident at Truro tonight 

https://twitter.com/absolutoursuk/status/1050809188610396162

[SandTEngineer]

https://cornishstuff.com/2018/10/12/train-disruption-as-fire-service-sent-to-truro-station/

[broadgage]

Are there still issues with the electronic reservation system that the 800's? Was on one from Swansea to Paddington over the weekend (that was delayed by almost 2 hours thanks to a broken down freight train, but that is a different issue!) and the reservations weren't on. No comments from the TM^‡(resolve) about it, and the service was quiet enough that it didn't matter. Just curious.

Apart from any inherent unreliability, including lack of signal to download the data, there is also  the problem that the reservation system cant cope with a different train type.
Substitution of a 5+5 for a 9 car, or the other way round means no reservations, as does an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) instead of an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train).

[TonyK]

Those cables have already been used by people train surfing. Obviously the worry is these idiots will come into contact with the OHL^▸ (Over-Head Line) or the bus line (the cable above the corridor connection).

Presumably they can’t withdraw the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)’s because it would effectively shut down the high speed network.

It doesn’t look like an easy problem to solve.

An equally unsavoury outcome would result from one of the cables giving way, and depositing its idiot passenger onto the track at 125 mph.

[CMRail]

This mornings train is 5 coaches, so I paid for first class as I wasn’t prepairednto stand for 2 hours on a train to Paddington. Can’t wait for my complimentary breakfast cooked from the kitchen staff hiding area. Yes, I mean the invisible breakfast.

[Lee]

Did you get your Brekkie in the end, CharlieGCR?

[broadgage]

Did you get your Brekkie in the end, CharlieGCR?

And did the short formation appear on journey check ?

[grahame]

Did you get your Brekkie in the end, CharlieGCR?

And did the short formation appear on journey check ?

I am on a short formed IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) - 13:14 Swindon to Cardiff , 5 v 10, as I write. Enough space here for all, but announcement made that it should be 10 cars and seat reservations not being honoured.

NOT showing as shortformed on my feed though.

[IndustryInsider]

There appears to be several diagrams running around as 5-car trains today that should be 9 or 10-car, and none of them are listed on JourneyCheck.  That is very poor. 

It should be noted however that whenever I have checked GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s fleet allocations recently there have been very few 5-car trains that were supposed to be longer, so a much improved situation in general to what we were witnessing.

[old original]

Overheard on the 1203 Paddington Penzance (IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)) today,
elderly passenger to guard.....   
"When are we getting the proper trains back?"
Says it all...

[JayMac]

There appears to be several diagrams running around as 5-car trains today that should be 9 or 10-car, and none of them are listed on JourneyCheck.  That is very poor. 

It should be noted however that whenever I have checked GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s fleet allocations recently there have been very few 5-car trains that were supposed to be longer, so a much improved situation in general to what we were witnessing.

May have been better for Hitachi to postpone their test run to Newquay today to provide another 5 car for passenger service.

[broadgage]

"As we continue to realise the advantages of the investment made in our new Inter City Express trains, we intend to fully exploit the flexible train length in order to further improve the travel experience.
Going forward, we are moving away from a rigid pre-planned number of carriages.
Instead we will flexibly update train lengths in order to provide many extra seats on our busiest services.

This will give us the facility to respond dynamically in real time to changing customer flows, and provide the very longest trains, with HUNDREDS of extra seats, where demand is greatest"

As GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are a bit busy, I have done the press release for them.

TRANSLATION=======There is now no such thing as a short train, merely improved flexibility.

[CMRail]

In the end I was offered a cup of tea and a biscuit. It was a peak service so it was busy. Apparently large maintenance on the Hitatchi units today.

[phile]

There appears to be several diagrams running around as 5-car trains today that should be 9 or 10-car, and none of them are listed on JourneyCheck.  That is very poor. 

It should be noted however that whenever I have checked GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s fleet allocations recently there have been very few 5-car trains that were supposed to be longer, so a much improved situation in general to what we were witnessing.

Have Tweeted GWR who said all short formed trains should appear on Journey Check and will feedback to those concerned.